I had some raspberry purée sitting in the freezer compartment and it was nearing the expiry date. And so I went on a sort of rampage trawling the internet for any recipes requiring it. This recipe I found is meant for a full-sized cake but a sudden stroke of genius must have hit me; I decided to convert the recipe into cupcake portions instead.

Recipe: Raspberry Swirl Cheese Cupcakes

Ingredients

10 whole Oreo cookies, crushed

40g unsalted butter, melted

360g cream cheese, room temperature

200g caster sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup raspberry purée

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Prepare 8 cupcake cases (each of 1/2 cup size) and lay them on top of a small cookie tray.

Wrap a glass with a plastic sheet, and make use of the base to compact the crust.

Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then remove it to cool completely.

In one large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Add in the sugar in a slow, steady stream and beat until just combined.

Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time, making sure that each addition is well-incorporated before adding another. Add in the vanilla essence.

Pour the batter onto the baked crust till about 7/8 cup full.

Add 1 tsp of raspberry pureé on top of each cupcake and use a wooden skewer to swirl carefully through the cheese batter.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until just set.

Switch off the oven, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the cupcakes cool completely in the oven before removing.

Yield : 8 large cupcakes

The cupcake cases I used were about the size of 1/2 cup. If you are using the smaller cases which fit snugly into those 12-hole muffin pans, then you probably can make about 12 cupcakes. Just remember to adjust the amount of raspberry purée required, downwards. Also, take special note that the baked cupcakes should be kept away from the cool outside air as much as possible while cooling, otherwise it would sink in the centre. And, avoid putting too much pureé in the centre lest the same happens.

The cheese layer was a still a little soft and jiggly after cooling down; I think I could have baked it a little longer. But honestly, I quite liked this texture – soft and smooth like puddings, and best eaten straight out of the cupcake case with a dessert spoon!

Feel free to go ahead and make changes to the base of the cupcakes or even the raspberry purée. You might just create a cupcake which you can truly call your own.

I tried making this non-bake cheesecake slightly more than a couple of years ago for E, a very dear friend. Searching for a simple cake recipe suitable as E’s birthday cake proved to be quite a challenge because 1) I am really bad with cakes so I really require an easy no-fuss recipe and 2) the birthday girl to-be doesn’t fancy chocolate or creamy cakes. Knowing how much she likes tea, I scoured my books and trawled the internet for cakes that use tea leaves as alternative flavours, something along the line of Earl Grey Tea and the likes, but to no avail. Out of desperation, I abandoned the thought of a tea-flavoured cake and went for the final selection of a Raspberry Cheesecake. In my defence, this cake is really neither chocolatey nor creamy so it still fits the requirements. Kind of.

Recipe: Chilled Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Chilled Raspberry Cheesecake

13 (200g) digestive biscuits, crushed

100g butter, melted

4 tbsp water

1 1/2 tbsp fish gelatin

300g cream cheese, softened

125g sugar

200-350g raspberry pureé

125ml whipping cream

Jelly Top Layer

1 packet of Tortally Raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp fish gelatin

200ml hot water

200ml cold water

Instructions

Prepare an 8-inch springform pan.

Mix the melted butter and digestive biscuits in a mixing bowl till bonded.

Lay the mixture onto the pan until it covers the entire tray, using the back of a spoon to press the mixture down, till about 2 cm thick. Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.

Sprinkle gelatin over water in a bowl and set aside until it turns spongy. Place bowl over hot water until the gelatin mixture turns clear.

In another large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese till smooth.

Add in the sugar and beat the batter till light and fluffy. Set aside.

Add the dissolved gelatin mixture to the raspberry pureé in a separate bowl and mix well.

Pour the batter onto the prepared crust and let it set for at least one hour in the refrigerator before pouring the jelly layer.

Melt the jelly crystals and gelatin in hot water till dissolved. Add in the cold water. Let cool before pouring onto the chilled batter.

Chill overnight until firm before serving.

Yield : 8-inch cake

The cake was quite a hit at the gathering for several reasons – it was delicious without being too rich, and it helped that the cake looked decently attractive enough to entice many non-cake lovers to give it a try. There was no leftovers to be handled at the end of the gathering. If anything, I take that as a sign of the cake’s popularity.

I plan to revisit this recipe soon, and I would probably make some improvements to the recipe, for example increasing the layer of raspberry layer to 1.5 times the current height and replacing the heart sprinkles in between the layers with strawberries or other fruits.

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I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend and a colleague to at least one other person in the world. I am also a hopeless romantic at heart, choosing to believe in love and fairy tales. I am most happy when writing or reading a good book while listening to my expansive genre of music cds.